AFRICA/EGYPT - "A crisis which has its roots in the past": reflections of a missionary from Cairo

Cairo (Agenzia Fides) - "During Mubarak’s years division and hatred among the various factions deepened", says Fr. Luciano Verdoscia to Fides, a Comboni missionary who has been living and working in Cairo for many years, where there is calm tension after the violent repression of the Copts’demonstration, which caused dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries. The Copts were protesting against the demolition, in late September, of a church in the province of Aswan, in Upper Egypt (see Fides 10/10/2011).
According to Father Verdoscia to understand the underlying causes of discrimination against Christians and the spread of fundamentalist groups it is necessary to look at Egypt’s history in the last 30 years. "I do not say this, but these are analysis I have heard from several local commentators" underlines the missionary, who explains: "Before Sadat there were no deep divisions compared to what we have now. Starting with the Presidency in Sadat in the early 70s that sectarian divisions were produced. This trend deepened under Mubarak regime also due to the influence of Wahhabis from Saudi Arabia. The government at the time played with these groups, sometimes repressing them, sometimes leaving them free to act, especially at a social level".
"The situation is therefore complex", continues Fr. Verdoscia. "We cannot give a single interpretation. Islam, which in many ways is already an idealogical religion, is ideologized more than it should be, in a social context in which a large proportion of the population lives in ignorance and religion is the only reference of identity. What must be added to this is the political exploitation, especially in view of the forthcoming elections".
Currently, Egypt is ruled by a High Military Council to which the Copts accuse of not knowing how to protect them, and on the contrary have unleashed repression against them. "It should be noted that Christians have not been given the opportunity to access high military positions, except for rare cases in the upper echelons of the police", underlines Fr. Verdoscia.
The missionary also refers to the responsibility of the West. "The West clearly understands the principle of respect for minorities, but I remain surprised that no one intervenes when there are Muslim preachers who incite to violence and claim that they are against freedom of conscience. This naturally also applies in the opposite case, of who, proclaiming himself a Christian, fuels hate against Muslims".
"Unfortunately, I fear that Western governments are interested in preserving their economic interests at the expense of individual rights. So they do not have the ethical strength to denounce discrimination against minorities in the Middle Eastern countries", concludes Father Verdoscia. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 11/10/2011)